WASHINGTON, D.C. – Please join Dr. Jill Biden, a 29-year educator who continues to teach at a D.C.-area community college, for an informative and compelling conference with education experts from around the country on Wednesday, January 27that 9:00 a.m. EDT at the Center for American Progress to discuss this critical issue. (Keynote speech timing To Be Announced)

Dr. Biden has always said that community colleges are “one of America’s best-kept secrets,” and fortunately community colleges have become highly visible in public policy in the last year. The once stepchild of higher education is being heralded as a key player in reviving economic opportunity for workers and national competitiveness for the United States. A key drive of this interest is the Obama administration’s proposed landmark investment in community colleges to spur innovation and increase student success.

Yet, will it be a thoughtful transformation? Since their great expansion in 1947, with President Harry Truman’s Commission on Higher Education, community colleges have evolved to embrace three core activities: university transfer education, occupational education, and developmental education. They currently exist more or less in tension with one another. The integration of these activities through the lens of student success is the key to realizing the promise of community colleges as engines of economic opportunity and competitiveness.

Keynote Speech: The Importance of Community CollegesDr. Jill Biden (Exact Time To Be Announced)

Remarks will also be given by:Louis Soares, Director, Postsecondary Education Program, Center for American ProgressBrenda Dann-Messier, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education

Paper presentation: "Re-imagining Community Colleges in the 21st Century" Brian Pusser, co-author; associate professor, University of Virginia; director, Center for the Study of Higher Education, University of VirginiaKeith Bird, Chancellor Emeritus, Kentucky Community and Technical College system

Paper presentation: "Community College and Apprenticeship as Collaborative Routes to Rewarding Careers" Robert I. Lerman, author; professor of economics, American University Susan Schurman, dean, University College Community, Rutgers University

Space is extremely limited. RSVP required. Breakfast will be served at 8:30 a.m.